xiii, 320 pages : 24 cm

Ellis Parker, a detective known in the early 1900s as the "American Sherlock Holmes," was the man members of other law enforcement agencies turned to when they were baffled. Even Scotland Yard thought he was brilliant. Long before the advent of today's forensic science tools, he solved over 98% of the murders in his New Jersey county, sometimes never even leaving his desk. Drawing on the emerging discipline of psychology and his uncanny deductive reasoning skills, he was a "profiler" before the term existed, earning the "Holmes" nickname and a worldwide reputation for solving cases that baffled everyone else. Then he got into the biggest case of his career: the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby in 1932. Things began to go terribly wrong, as he drove himself to unimaginable depths in pursuit of the truth. The genius died in prison, on the eve of a presidential pardon.--From publisher description

Includes bibliographical references (pages 307-308) and index

A crime in the next county (1932) -- A fiddler becomes a detective (1871-1900) -- Bloody murder and burning barns (1901-1919) -- Bootleggers, a pickled corpse, and 175 suspects (1920-1922) -- Two weddings and a scandal (1922-1929) -- Depression crimes (1930-1932) -- The crime of the century--the case of a lifetime (1932-1933) -- A semi-official investigation (1932) -- Bradway Brown and an international fugitive (1933-1934) -- The most hated man in America (1934) -- Second opinions and second guesses (1935-1936) -- The second Lindbergh kidnapping (1936) -- Confessions (1936) -- The storm (1936) -- The trial of Ellis Parker--the prosecution (1937) -- The trial of Ellis Parker--the defense, and the verdict (1937) -- His last bow (1937-1940)

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